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Cueto Poised To Be A Cubs Killer In Series Finale

Giants will try for a series split in the finale of this four-game set after a narrow victory over Jake Arrieta and the Cubs yesterday. Let's see what the MLB odds makers are dealing and continue our torrid winning streak.

We cashed our fifth MLB pick in a row as we sided with Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants over Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs yesterday. When do you ever see the MLB odds makers dealing Bumgarner at +130? It was just too good to pass up and our wild Major League Baseball season continues to roll along with a hundred dollar bettor now up over $2600 based on one unit plays.

That is important to note because unlike other handicappers, I am not chasing my tail with 50, 100, 1000 or 5 million unit max plays when I go cold. Each unit reflects a bettor's average bet. If I'm a $100 bettor then how, for the luvva gawd, am I going to get up the scratch to put up $5000 on one play, which is what I would have to do for a 50 unit play? It's illogical, impractical and unreasonable yet we see it all the time with the various paid touts scamdicappers out there. One through five units I could understand (as long as not every bet is five units) but anything more is just make-believe.

Cueto Looks to ReboundTwo-time All-Star Johnny Cueto was uncharacteristically missing his spots in his last outing when he was touched for four runs on five hits in a 4-3 setback to the Diamondbacks on Tuesday.

"I think the pitches caught up with him," Giants manager Bruce Bochy told reporters after that game. "His command was a little off, he started missing his spots. It just got away from him."

Aside from that peculiar effort, Cueto has been impressive again this season. He is 14-5 with a 2.98 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP. The 30-year-old Dominican native is 9-8 when starting against the Cubs with an ERA of 3.34 and a WHIP of 1.210. His team's record is 12-11 (-0.1 units) in these starts. Cueto has not faced the Cubs this season but they are hitting a combined .179 against him throughout his career.

Betting AnalysisThe Giants are a team that has been swooning with a disappointing 16-29 mark since the All-Star break. But I doubt that downward spiral will continue as this club is simply too talented to be trending low for much longer. The Giants had a huge win over the Cubs yesterday and all three of these games have been decided by one run in each. This should be another closely contested game as San Francisco has a beast on the mound in Johnny Cueto and the Cubs will trot out 37-year-old John Lackey who looked razor sharp in his last outing on August 14th before he went on the DL with a right shoulder strain.

So here's the deal. The Giants have to be buoyed over yesterday's big win and certainly have more incentive to get the job done than the Cubs who are simply blowing away their NL Central rivals with a 16 ½ game lead as of this morning. Who would you choose between Johnny Cueto and John Lackey? We know the answer to that even though the aging veteran has a better than solid 9-7 record coupled with a 3.41 ERA and a WHIP of 1.04. The man is no slouch and he's been around the game a good long time. But how long will he go after a stint on the DL and if the Giants get to him early, it will most likely be all over as Cueto should easily go into the seventh inning.